This invention relates, in general, to singulating a plurality of integrally joined devices, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for singulating a plurality of integrally joined semiconductor devices.
Semiconductor integrated circuits are typically made on a silicon wafer. In order to singulate or separate the individual integrated circuits the wafer is placed on the sticky side of a tape. Then a saw or laser is used to cut through the silicon wafer thus singulating the individual integrated circuits.
More recently it has become common practice to take the singulated integrated circuits and mount a plurality of them on a printed circuit board (PCB). The top side of the PCB having the integrated circuits is then encapsulated with an epoxy material. Electrical contact to each of the integrated circuits can then be made from the bottom of the PCB. However, before the integrated circuit can be used it must be singulated. That is, it must be separated from the other encapsulated integrated circuits that are mounted on the PCB. Typically the PCB is square or rectangular and the bottom side of the PCB is placed on the sticky side of a tape as was the wafer. Then the encapsulating material and PCB is sawed through in order to separate the individual integrated circuits. However this procedure has several disadvantages, such as, the cost of the sticky tape, the task of removing the tape from the back of the piece of PCB having the integrated circuit, and cleaning the sticky adhesive from the back of the PCB so that electrical contact can be made to the integrated circuit through the back of the PCB.
Accordingly, the present invention overcomes the above and other disadvantages of the prior approach to singulating the plurality of semiconductor devices that are joined by the encapsulating material and the PCB.